ATI Radeon Xpress X1270 vs ATI Radeon Xpress X1200

ATI Radeon Xpress X1270

The Radeon Xpress X1270 (RS690M) is an onboard graphics card for notebooks / laptops and according to AMD optimized for a good price/value. It is based on a X700 design but with less pixel- and vertex-pipelines.

The different RS600 and RS690 (Xpress X1200, X1250, and X1270) offer the same graphics core, but may have a different core clock. Still the performance should be compareable.

ATI Radeon Xpress X1270 is hardly apt for gamers. Only old games like Quake 3 Arena can be played in 1024x768 with high/medium details fluently. Even Warcraft 3 runs fluently with minimum details. Current, damanding games like FEAR, Doom3 and Quake 4 can hardly be played (e.g. 2 frames per second in battle scenes in Quake 4). Some strategy games like Age of Empires 3 can only be played with minimal details.

ATI Radeon Xpress X1200

The Radeon Xpress X1200 (RS600M or RS690M) is an onboard graphics card for notebooks / laptops and according to AMD optimized for a good price/value. It is based on a X700 design but with less pixel- and vertex-pipelines.

The exact core clock is not clear as it varies from 350 MHz (according to Wikipedia) to 500 MHz (some GPU-Z versions). The different RS600 and RS690 (Xpress X1200, X1250, and X1270) offer the same graphics core, but may have a different core clock. Still the performance should be compareable.

ATI Radeon Xpress X1200 is hardly apt for gamers. Only old games like Quake 3 Arena can be played in 1024x768 with high/medium details fluently. Even Warcraft 3 runs fluently with minimum details. Current, damanding games like FEAR, Doom3 and Quake 4 can hardly be played (e.g. 2 frames per second in battle scenes in Quake 4). Some strategy games like Age of Empires 3 can only be played with minimal details (20-25 fps, tested with a FSC Amilo Pa 2510).

The graphic chip supports Windows Vista Aero surface and all 3D effects run fluently. Due to HyperMemory Aero is supported with high resolutions (tested with 1280x800 + 1920x1200).

Technically the chip has 4 pixel-pipelines and either a texture unit (with 2 vertex shaders) or no vertex shaders (each source tells a different story).

The current consumption of the desktop version lies around 13.8 Watt (TDP) and 8 Watt average. The mobile versions could be more economic as they offer Powerplay support.